A transcript is a retrospective written record of dialogue, and like a script (a prospective record) may include other scene information such as props or actions. In the case of a transcript of a film or television episode, ideally it is a verbatim record. Because closed-captioning is usually written separately, its text may have errors and does not necessarily reflect the true Canonical transcript.

Transcripts for Lost episodes up to and including "Enter 77" are based on the transcriptions by Lost-TV member Spooky with aid of DVR, and at times, closed captions for clarification. She and Lost-TV have generously granted us permission to share/host these transcripts at Lostpedia. Later transcripts were created by the Lostpedia community, unless stated otherwise below.

Disclaimer: This transcript is intended for educational and promotional purposes only, and may not be reproduced commercially without permission from ABC. The description contained herein represents viewers' secondhand experience of ABC's Lost.

Kris White: Welcome you're listening to the Official Lost Podcast, hosted by ABC.com. In just a few minutes, we'll be bringing you more of executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for their penultimate podcast this mini-season. This last Wednesday's epic episode, in which we lost another major character on the Island—an actor whose name I love to pronounce, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, AKA Mr. Eko. They'll be talking about that as well as your fan questions and previewing this week's episode, "I Do", which airs Wednesday, November 8th, from 9-10PM on ABC. Here now are the masters of, well, Lost.

Damon Lindelof: Knowing… this is a cool window into the behind-the-scenes, protosorial function of Lost, because we knew that ABC would not be able to resist running promos saying that someone would die this episode. It's a sweeps episode, we only do six episodes; everybody's worrying about the ratings this year, so we knew they were going to go, "Someone's going to DIE." So, we introduced these two characters, Paulo and Nikki at the end of the Locke episode, who were sort of just there all along, so when they volunteer to go on this trek…

Damon Lindelof: You think,"These people are going to be the ones that will die. Which is so lame, because we don't even know them. We've never seen them before, they're going on this trek, and ABC is going to completely sell us a false bill of goods… this is the someone who's going to die?"

Carlton Cuse: But no, we kill the beloved Mr. Eko. What are you guys thinking about?

Carlton Cuse: [Laughs] Well… y'know, we actually killed Mr. Eko because we had made a deal with Adewale, the actor, that we would only have him on the show for somewhere around a year. When we went into this and when we hired him for the show, we all sat down and he wanted to come do Lost, but he didn't want to commit to be on the show for long-term. So, we always knew that we'd have a short, really great arc, but one that would come to an end sooner than people wanted it to.

Damon Lindelof: That story, if it's sounding familiar to the Ana Lucia story that we told last year, it's because it is in fact the same story. And obviously, we cast Michelle Rodriguez well before Adewale, because she had actually appeared in the finale of Season 1. But, when Adewale came on for Season 2, we expressed concern in only having a year-long arc because we already had a deal in place for Michelle Rodriguez to do the same, and basically asked him, "It'd be great if we could not kill you in Season 2, but roll you into Season 3."

Carlton Cuse: Yeah, we felt like it would be too much to have those two deaths to come so close together, and because we had only one-year deals with each of them, we wanted to expand out between the deaths in order to really finish Eko's story off and make it separate from Ana Lucia's death, and with the finale, there really wasn't time to do that in Season 2.

Damon Lindelof: So, the Tailies really to have terrible luck, when it comes down to it. Bernard better watch his back!

Carlton Cuse: Bernard… well, there really are some other Tailies alive, we just don't know where they are.

Damon Lindelof: [Laughs] I've been asking myself that question for over 2 years now. So, um… so… uh, so let's talk about Eko's death itself, in terms of the show. Um, what is the relevance of Yemi's A) body being gone from the plane, we know that he burned it in "The 23rd Psalm" last year, now the body's MIA, not unlike Christian Shephard's body… secondly, Yemi says something very interesting before he goes wandering off into the jungle and Eko goes chasing after him, only to be bonked into trees repeatedly by the smoke monster… and what is it that he says, Carlton?

Carlton Cuse: He says… um… "You speak to me as if I were your brother."

Damon Lindelof: And what is that inferring? Or implying? I always get the two confused.

Carlton Cuse: That might be inferring (or implying)… I think it might be implying that he's not his brother.

Damon Lindelof: What does that mean? If he's not his brother, then who is he?

Carlton Cuse: Well then, he might be a manifestation that the Island has generated. Perhaps an incarnation of the Monster?

Damon Lindelof: That's interesting. I would assume that that's sort of a theory that people are tossing around. Um… there's several manifestations in that episode. All of them seem to have come from Eko's memory. So, could one assume that when they last faced off, that all those flashes that happened in the Monster cloud, that it was sort of "downloading information" that it might want to use at a future date?

Damon Lindelof: Which actually kicked off a very interesting and fun conversation in the writers' room, because when we first said "That's what's going to be the last line," it was like, "But did Eko say 'We're next'?" We said, "No, no. Eko whispers to Locke, he says 'You're next.' But then Locke sort of interprets it 'We're next'."

Carlton Cuse: But if you said "You're next." Then he would sort of just mean it.

Damon Lindelof: Well, yeah, then Locke would look up at Sayid and say…

Damon Lindelof: But then it would just… that would not have had the same impact as…

Carlton Cuse: Would now have been rather confusing morass… It does imply that the other castaways perhaps face a similar fate as Eko. Does it mean that everyone on the Island is destined to be judged?

Damon Lindelof: But… I would say that Eko sort of died on his own terms. I mean, the Island is asking him for a confession, or whatever is taking the form of these ghosts, and he basically says, "I'm not going to confess. I live life on my own terms and I did everything that I could to survive, and I've made mistakes in my life, but I'm not going to apologize for those." And then the Monster kills him. But he seems actually sort of happy when he dies. Sort of blissed out. I mean, he's got this image of he and his brother walking off into the sunshine… so when he says "You're next,"—er "We're ne"— I mean does that mean…

Damon Lindelof: Why would I? Uh, another relevant story move in this past week's episode is that… Ben came to Jack and said, "Yes, the x-ray that you saw was in fact mine. I've got a tumor, and I'd like you to take it out, and…"

Carlton Cuse: Oh, yeah, we took that out. 'Cause there's really no Blue Cross on the Island.

Damon Lindelof: There isn't. There's not good health insurance. I think Jack is just going to think about it… until next week's episode, which we're sort of inherently prehashing now. But I think the more significant development was—what was all that with Juliet and the TV?

Carlton Cuse: It's kind of interesting… I mean, what is her agenda? I mean, she obviously doesn't—she's not necessarily a fully-indoctrinated Other, is she?

Damon Lindelof: She's obviously a Bob Dylan fan, too, because in that video, where he stands there with the cards, and there's all those words on them, maybe that's what inspired her to do that.

Carlton Cuse: My mother, my mother loves this episode. Even though she hasn't seen it.

Damon Lindelof: She can sense it. But people will inevitably want to throw rocks at us when the episode ends, because they're going to have to wait thirteen whole weeks. I will remind you that there was two and a half whole years between The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi, and…

Carlton Cuse: We could. That might be good. We could just comment on Daybreak.

Damon Lindelof: What's great about Daybreak is it's a thirteen week commitment. It's not like these big serialized shows that require, y'know, you getting on the internet, listening to podcasts, and they're set on an island, and they completely consume your life…

Damon Lindelof: I'm just saying. Two questions here. One is from "AreaLC8390", the other from "TailiesFan". Both of them asking roughly the same question. "Area" says "When are we going to see an explanation for why the Others take the children and other people, and what happened to them?" and "TailiesFan" asks, "How come the kidnapped Tailies haven't surfaced? What happened to Cindy and the kids? That's bugged me ever since episode 7 of Season 2."

Carlton Cuse: I would like to know, Damon. And this is called "Moving" from "Marvelo18": "I was thinking… does the Island move? How does Eko's short range plane…" (well, it says "plans", I assume he means "plane")… "go from somewhere near Africa to somewhere near Australia? Maybe the Island is forever moving. Just a thought."

Damon Lindelof: I think that's a fascinating thought. And I couldn't possibly answer that question, 'cause if we were to reveal something so ginormous as if the Island were moving us…

Carlton Cuse: If not, you're going to get 300 emails explaining one way or another.

Damon Lindelof: "When the girlfriend of Pickett passed away, they needed Jack." And now we've seen Ben now needs Jack. "But where are the doctors now? I mean, if they want to operate on Claire, why can't they help the girlfriend of Pickett?" Y'know what I mean?

Carlton Cuse: [Whew] Well, that's a lot. That's a lot to digest and keep in my memory. What was the question again?

Damon Lindelof: The question is… don't the Others have their own surgeons?

Carlton Cuse: Well, we did see people who were wearing surgical scrubs, but to assume that those people are doctors is to make an assumption.

Damon Lindelof: But the other thing is, if they were going to operate on Claire, for example, to do something to the baby, that doesn't necessarily mean they can take a tumor off someone's spine. I mean—not all doctors are created equally.

Carlton Cuse: That is absolutely true. And in fact, we might come to learn what happened to the… There might have been doctors, because obviously, there are surgical facilities on this island, and it's a very fair question to ask "What happened to the doctors?" But I think it's also fair question to ask, "Well, what happened to the DHARMA Initiative?" And I think that some of these mythological questions need to be addressed in upcoming episodes, where we can explain where have all the doctors gone.

Damon Lindelof: Alright. I guess you have time for one more and I have time for one more. We're really on our game today, aren't we, Carlton. [Carlton Laughs] Ricky Gervais' podcast is awesome, by the way.

Carlton Cuse: "…When will we find out more about the black smoke in Season 3, it reminds me of the alien in The Abyss. Also, a bit late now. After listening to your podcast, I recognized the Stephen King book as Carrie, can you confirm that? I actually have that book, my dad, who was a big Stephen King fan, left it to me along with other first editions. Great show, the best thing on UK TV, too. PS: Is the black smoke made up of nanobots?" [Laughs]

Damon Lindelof: Ohhh, nanobots. I don't know how many times you can you can go on record saying that the black smoke is NOT made up of nanobots before you stop getting asked that question.

Damon Lindelof: Yes. I think so. We were talking about the Monster, and suddenly you're coming on to me. I, I think that would qualify as an interruption. In any case, we know more about the Monster now. We know that it's all mysterious, but the idea that the Monster can actually…

Carlton Cuse: We know it can kill people by smashing them against trees? [Laughs]

Damon Lindelof: Right. But we didn't know that before. We saw Greg Grunberg get pulled out of a cockpit and heard him get thrown into a tree, but we never saw it… so that's kind of cool.

Carlton Cuse: And we know it could be a manifestation. It could manifest itself as people like Yemi.

Damon Lindelof: We don't know that definitively. If we were to say that to our bosses, for example, we'd probably be fired. And beaten. Not necessarily in that order.

Carlton Cuse: Yeah, that's true. But if the audience were to make an assumption that that were the case, that might not be incorrect…

Damon Lindelof: Yes… going back to your speech about assumptions earlier, I wouldn't want to make any assumptions. Because they make asses… of you and me. Um, I guess we've got time for one more question, Carlton. I've got two more left here for you.

Carlton Cuse: But you know, I think it's hard to… we haven't done a lot of stories on the beach, have we? Are we getting back to the beach?

Damon Lindelof: Oh boy, are we. ALL the characters you know and love. Once you see next week's episode, you're going to understand that we're sort of changing the game a little bit, sort of our time spent on Alcatraz will be over…

Damon Lindelof: But… my final question is this, by "ThirdBase878". Um, "If Carlton and Damon…" is the subject heading… "Which characters would you guys be on the show? Also, which one of you has the fetish for Charles Dickens and Stephen King? My final question is, will the survivors or the Others ever return to the Black Rock?" First off, I just want to clarify this fetish question. Carlton, it's not what… not what you're thinking. [Carlton laughs] It's not like you wear a top hat and Victorian clothes. It's not that kind of fetish, I think. It's more, "Which one of you is an aficionado of Charles Dickens, or—"

Carlton Cuse: Well, I would have to say that we both are. I think that that's kind of a shared bond that's sort of an inspiration for us. I mean, one of the things that's sort of interesting about Lost is that there aren't a lot of television shows like it, and the ones that have… the ones that are sort of cited as examples have kind of died much quicker deaths, as we're now on our 60th hour. I mean, there were only 21 Twin Peaks, there were only 16 Prisoners. I mean, X-Files was sort of a model in some sense, but that show had a franchise, along with a sort of science-fiction mythology…

Damon Lindelof: Oh, what I wouldn't do for a room with a file cabinet in it… there would be stories…

Carlton Cuse: [Laughs] Exactly, exactly. So, in fact, our model in many ways have been other things, including Stephen King's The Stand, which we acknowledge as kind of a way you can tell a long, sprawling, character-based story. And Charles Dickens was also a wonderful inspiration, because here he was, writing these great, wonderful, sprawling, serialized books…

Carlton Cuse: I was gonna say I'm not going to choose Claire because I know that's going to be your choice. [Damon laughs] Sawyer for me, definitely. Just 'cause he's a lot cooler than me, and I wish I could be as cool as Sawyer.

Damon Lindelof: This isn't like "Who would you like to be?", it's "Who do you think on the show is most like you?" Which character would you be?

Carlton Cuse: Well… I would want to be Sawyer. I would aspire to be Sawyer.

Damon Lindelof: Well, like, yeah. If it's like who you would wanna be.

Damon Lindelof: Our producer makes faces at us when he thinks we've gone on too long, or been particularly bad.

Damon Lindelof: Occasionally, we think he's laughing at some of the things we've said, leading us to believe that we were funny, but in fact, last week, he told us that he was just a little constipated. So now, he's giving us the twirling finger…telling us to wrap it up…

Kris White: That wraps up this podcast, but don't fret. We'll be back soon with the post "I Do" podcast, wrapping up things with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. They'll be rehashing the events in this upcoming episode, in addition to previewing the second part of Season 3. So, get your fan questions ready, and submit them at lost.abc.com, where you can also view the episode for free the day after it airs. "I Do" airs Wednesday, from 9-10PM only on ABC.